Golf ball retriever



Oct. 22, 1957 A. BAILEY GOLF BALL RETRIEVER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec.3, 1952 Oct. 22, 1957 A. BAILEY com" BALL RETRIEVER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed Dec. 3, 1952 United States Pat GOLF BALL RETRIEVER Art Bailey,Philadelphia, Pa.

Application December 3, 1952, Serial No. 323,895

Claims. (Cl. 214356) My invention relates to golf ball retrievers, andparticularly to golf ball retrievers having rollers thereon which areadapted to pick up the balls as the device is dragged over the ground.

Many golf balls are lost on regulation golf courses and if these ballscould be recovered, their recovery would be highly profitable because oftheir ever-increasing price. Furthermore, the golf driving range isbecoming increasingly popular. In these driving ranges, a line oftee-off positions are marked ofi at one end of a large field and aplayer in each of these tee-off positions seeks to drive a number ofballs as far as he can toward the other end of the field. This resultsin a scattering of hundreds and even thousands of golf balls over a plotof land measuring many hundreds of square yards in area. Since golfballs are expensive, it is necessary for the proprietor of the range torecover most, if not all, of these balls in order to successfullyoperate his business. The need for an efficient golf ball retrieverwhich can quickly and easily recover large quantities of golf ballsscattered over a large area is, therefore, very great.

There have been numerous attempts to devise a means for adequatelyretrieving golf balls in large quantities, but these retrievers have allproved to be inefficient in retrieving any large number of balls or theyhave inflicted such damage on the balls in the course of retrieving themthat a prohibitive proportion of the balls have, thereafter, proved tobe unusable. Furthermore, these retrievers have not been able to recovera ball which lies in a crevice or other irregularity in the ground and,therefore, have by-passed a large number of usable balls.

This invention, by using a resilient type of pick-up means which isadapted to conform to the contour of the ground and which does not haveany frictional or abrading efiect on the balls, efiiciently and quicklyclears a field of the large proportion of golf balls. In addition, itnot only retrieves the balls but acts to clear rocks and otherundesirable debris from the field while at the same time, not causingany damage to the grass because of its resilient nature.

It is, therefore, one object of my invention to provide a mechanicaldevice for quickly and easily retrieving golf balls or the like from alarge tract of land.

Another object of my invention is to provide a retrieving device whichis adapted to retrieve the balls from irregularly contoured or pittedground areas.

Another object of my invention is to provide a retrieving device whichwill not only gather up golf balls but which will act to clear the landof rocks and the like.

Another object of my invention is to provide a retrieving device whichwill not rip up the grass.

Another object of my invention is to provide a retrieving device whichwill automatically deposit the balls in a container.

Other objects of my invention are to provide an im proved device of thecharacter described, that is easily and economically produced, which issturdy in construction, and which is highly effective in operation.

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With the above and related objects in view, my invention consists in thedetails of construction and combination of parts, as will be more fullyunderstood from the following description, when read in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a top plan view of the golf ball retrieving device showing onecomplete unit and one unit in which the guard and the basket aremissing.

Fig. 2 is a rear elevational view of the golf ball retrieving deviceshown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is side elevational view showing the rolls, the supporting framesand a basket for holding the retrieved balls.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective view showing the resilient mounting ofthe guard member.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one complete section embodying theinvention.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view of one of the rollers showing a plurality ofballs being picked up from the ground and carried into the basketreceptacle.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view showing how the resilient roller is adaptedto enter a recess to pick up a ball.

Referring now in greater detail to the drawings wherein similarreference characters refer to similar parts, I show a golf ballretriever comprising a support A and rollers B mounted within thesupport.

The support A comprises a series of frame sections 10, each sectionbeing similar to the others. The sections 10 are connected end to end,one section for each roller.

Each frame section 10 comprises a pair of parallel side bars 12 whichare spaced from each other by bars 14 to form a rectangular frame.Midway of the frame is provided a bar 16 which divides the frame intotwo equal parts. In one part of the frame is rotatably mounted a roller18, which when combined with the other rollers in the series, forms themember B. In the other part of the frame is inserted a wire mesh basket20. There is, thereby, provided one basket in the rear of each roller,the basket being approximately of the same length as the roller.

Depending from each bar 16 behind the roller 18 is a guard frame 22which has a curvature to conform to that of the roller. The guard frame22 extends from the angle bar 16 to a position where it is adapted to beadjacent the ground when the machine is being used. Wire mesh 24encloses the guard frame'22 to form the complete guard member 26. i

The guard 26 is resiliently mounted on the frame so that, if it strikesa rock or other obstruction on the ground as the apparatus is beingused, it will not break off but will give sufficiently to clear theobstruction. This resilient mounting comprises a bracket 28 which isrigidly mounted on the side bar 12, a threaded rod 30 which extendsthrough an opening in the bar 16 and through the top and bottom portionsof the bracket 28, and a spiral spring 32 which surrounds the rod 30,abutting against the bar 16 at one end and against an adjustable washer36 at its other end. A knurled nut 34, mounted on the rod 39 outwardlyof the upper part of the bracket 28, is provided to adjust the tensionof the spring. This adjustment is accomplished by means of the washer 36which is threaded on rod 30 between the top end of the spring 32 and thetop portion of the bracket. As the nut 34 is turned, it adjusts thewasher 36 longitudinally of the rod 30, thereby adjusting the tension ofthe spring.

One end of a link 38 is pivotally connected to the guard adjacent thesprings 32 and the other end of the link is provided with a pin 40 whichis adapted to be slidably received in a longitudinal slot 42 of anupstanding lug 44 mounted on the bar 12 at a position spaced from thepivotal connection of the link to the guard. A spring 46 extends betweenthe top of rod 30 and the pin 40 for the purpose of preventing the pinfrom being jammed at the bottom of the slot 42.

The rollers 18, as illustrated here, each comprise a hub 48 and aresilient sleeve-like covering 50 around the hub. The covering 50 isillustrated hereas' foam rubber. However, it may take the formof aninflatable casing, or a series of sheets made of resilient material ofvarious kinds, or any of a number of other obvious modifications.Although two rollers are illustrated" here, any desired number maybeused in the gang.

As is apparent from the foregoing description, my invention operates asfollows: As the machine is dragged over the ground, the roller 18, whichis rotatably supported in the frame 12 transverse to the direction ofthe dragtreely rolls over any object in its path. The continuouscylindrical surface 50 of the roller is indented as it passes over theseobjects. reaches the-tree end of the article guide 26, thearticle guideand roller cooperate-tos'coop' the halls-'therebetween, pinching theballs between" the cylindrical roller surface and the interior surfaceof the article guide itself. Thereafter, the obj'eet sor balls are wrungbetween the two surfaces and are carried upward until they finally passover the top of the article guide and fallinto the wire receptacl'ebehind the roller.

As shown in Fig. 7, if a ball is lying in a recess, the resilient rollerextends down into-there'cess and embraces the-ball, carrying it alongwith it.

Although my invention has been described in considerable detail, suchdescription is: intended as being illustrative rather than limiting,since the invention may be variously embodied,- and thescope of theinvention is tobe determined as claimed;

I claim as' my invention:

1. A golf ball retriever comprising a frame of substantially rectangularconfiguration, a receptacle mounted thereon, a resilient rollerrotatably mounted withinsaid frame and supporting said frame upon theground, said resilient roller having a continuous cylindrical surfaceextending parallel to its axis of rotation, said cylindricalsurfaceadapted to bein'dented as said roller passes over a ball and a curvedarticle guide spaced from and con centric with said cylindrical surface,said curved article guide being resiliently mounted at its upper portionon said-frame and havinga free end extending toward the ground whereby aball will be scooped between said curved article guideand s'aidroller,pinched therebetween,

and thereupon be wrung'from the-upper portion of said article guide intosaid receptacle;

When the object or ball endless blanket of foam rubberdikematerialarranged to travel in a closed path about and in parallelism with ahorizontal reference line; and a ramp paralleling a portion of saidblanket in spacedrelation thereto, the clearance between said blanketand said ramp being less than the smallest cross-sectional width of saidarticles.

3. A conveyor comprising: an endless blanket of foam rubber-likematerial and having a rising side and a descending side, said blanketbeing arranged to travel in a closed path with a portion thereof inparallelism and in engagement with a relatively fiat supporting surface;and a ramp disposed rearwardly of the rising side of said blanket and inparallelism with and; positively spaced therefrom, the clearance betweensaid ramp and the-adjacent portion of said blanket being less than thesmallest diameter of the article to be conveyed.

4. A harvester comprising: an endless blanket of a foam rubber-likematerial, means for constraining said blanket to travel in a closed pathin parallelism with a horizontal reference line andwith the lowerportion thereof in contact with the ground, said blanket having arisingside and a descending side; a rampparalleling the rising: side of saidblanket and spaced therefrom a distance less than the smallest diameterof the articles to be harvested; and means for rolling said blanketalong the ground.

5'. A harvester comprising: a supporting cylinder, a

cylindrical blanket of foam rubb'er like material fixed to andcircumscribing said" supporting cylinder; an arcuate' ramp parallelingthe rising side of said cylindrical blanket and spaced therefrom adistance less than the smallest diameter of the articles to beharvested; and meansfor moving said harvester along the ground.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS"l,099,540 Douglass June 9, 1914 2,365,540- Fonken' Dec. 19;. 19442,413,679 Binder Jan. 7, 1947 2,484,437 Wells Oct. 11 1 949 2,605,005Wenzelet al. July 29, 1952 2,656,061 Lockie: Oct. 20. 1953 2,658,637Bailey Nov. 1-0, 1953 2,729,046 Patterson Jan. 3, 1956

